“Paintball” is a currently popular recreational sport in which members of opposite teams attempt to mark opponents with paint, thereby removing them from the game. Marking is accomplished by using a paintball marker gun to shoot a projectile (paintball) containing paint or other appropriate marking material at an opponent. Paintballs are spherical capsules filled with paint or other marking material which burst upon impact. Upon contact with a player, the paintball ruptures, thus marking the player with the contents of the paintball. Once a player is marked, he/she is out of the game.
The paintball gaming industry through the National Paintball Players League (NPPL) has an official set of gaming rules for promoting safety and officially sanctioned play. These rules stipulate that fully automatic marker guns cannot be used in officially sanctioned play. However, there is no limit on the rate of fire for semiautomatic marker guns—semiautomatic being one firing cycle per trigger pull, and only one effective trigger pull per firing cycle. Therefore, the field is motivated to develop marker guns having the highest rate of semiautomatic fire possible. As might be expected, the focus of this development has been on improving trigger mechanisms.
Existing mechanical and pneumatic trigger mechanisms for paintball marker guns, have a trigger pull requiring about 1 lb. of force and nearly ¼″ of travel. For examples, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,503,137; 6,343,599; and 6,520,171. In an effort to increase the rate of fire, the industry has developed alternatives to the previous mechanical and pneumatic trigger mechanisms that operate electrically. For examples, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,727,538; 6,439,217; and 6,694,963. These electric trigger mechanisms have a trigger pull requiring substantially less force and travel than the prior mechanical and pneumatic trigger mechanisms. However, it is possible under certain conditions with electric trigger mechanisms to achieve a firing rate that does not meet the above limitation for a “semiautomatic” rate of fire. In other words, it is possible under these conditions to achieve more than one firing cycle per trigger pull, or to have a firing cycle not initiated by the prior trigger pull. Also, electric trigger mechanisms require an onboard battery to operate the circuitry. The requirement for onboard battery power adds a maintenance issue to the marker, and an additional performance factor (battery charge state) that must be monitored during the course of a game.
Although the above identified devices may be useful for their intended purposes, it is beneficial in the field to have an alternative marker gun trigger mechanism having a trigger pull requiring very low force and having short travel. It would be additionally beneficial if the alternative trigger mechanism did not require battery power and was fully compliant with the above definition of “semiautomatic” firing rate.